ONCE UPON A TIME, when out shooting with their husbands, women were nicknamed GSDs – "Good Shot Darlings!" That patronising acronym was inspired by the view that ladies were only really there to praise their partners, whenever they'd manfully bagged
a pheasant.
These days the tide has turned and women are taking up the sport in their thousands, according to the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC), the UK's largest sports organisation, which has more than 6,000 female members. And the Scone Game Fair in Perth next weekend is expecting a large contingent of the fairer sex.
One female shooter who'll be there is Claire Valentine, a 33-year-old negotiator with estate agent Strutt & Parker, which sponsors the media facilities at the fair. As someone who enjoys a day on the hills herself, she'll be dispensing advice to women who want to get involved in the shooting scene.
She points out that many women – and men – start out with clay pigeon shooting, which is a sport in its own right and an essential tuition and practice aid for game shooters. Women have already made their mark in this sport – at the Commonwealth Games in 2002, 15-year-old Charlotte Kerwood won gold. Valentine, however, enjoys the sport less for the competitive aspect and more for the fun side.
"I have quite a few friends to go clay pigeon shooting with, as well as real birds, and it's quite a social event for us," she says. "I also enjoy just being on a shoot, or grouse beating."
She points out that shooting is not difficult to get involved in, but you have to be given a good grounding.
"If other women want to find out exactly where they can learn, they should try the shooting school at Dunkeld, or any of the Scottish clay pigeon shooting centres," she says. "They're the type of places with good registered instructors."
Surprisingly, similar centres are all over the place, including at Newtonmore, Fife and Dumfries. If you sign up for lessons now, perhaps you can take part in one of the Scottish Game Fair's clay pigeon shooting competitions in a year or so.
First of all, a little practice is called for. Just make sure that, when you step up to the range, you're not put off by those stereotypes of a male-dominated pastime. When Valentine was learning, she encountered very little sexism. However, she did find that women were quieter about their achievements. "I think women are less vocal about their ability," she says. "They like the shooting, but don't want to brag about how good they are."
Also, although shooting has associations with the landed gentry, it's not terribly expensive. That is, unless you really catch the bug and want to buy your own estate, like Madonna. For starters, if you want an hour's lesson, expect to pay around £40. Or, you can have a taster session for under a tenner at the Scottish Game Fair. Picking up a gun for the first time might be quite a nerve-wracking experience, but persevere and you may find you're a natural. Many of those involved in shooting find women are comparatively quick to get the hang of it.
"Shooting tends to be a bit of a 'gung-ho' thing for boys," says Alexander Macpherson Fletcher, who runs the Balavil Estate, near Kingussie. "However, girls, particularly novices, tend to listen to what they're told. They're also always a bit more apprehensive, so they tend to spend a bit more time listening."
Macpherson Fletcher's 30-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, has been shooting since she was ten and has been featured in various magazines. This includes a piece in Tatler, where she appeared as a "grouse babe" – an eligible girl on the moors. To become a "well-known Scottish shot", as her father puts it, is quite an achievement. However, he found that the push to spark an initial interest was a bit of sibling rivalry.
"Once many women get a taste for it, shooting becomes a competitive thing against the boys," he says. "My own daughter has four brothers and, once she'd got the hang of shooting with a shotgun and a rifle, she was absolutely determined she wasn't going to be shown up by her brothers."
• Scottish Game Fair, Scone Estate, Perth, 4-6 July, 9:30am-6pm. Admission £13 adults, £3 children. Visit
www.scottish fair.co.uk for more details.
The full article contains 758 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
